Five-Year Manpower Plan for Hotel Industry

The $4 billion hotel industry here is the first sector to get a dedicated five-year manpower strategy, under the national drive to equip students and workers with industry-relevant skills.

Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say announced the sectoral manpower plan, part of SkillsFuture, on Friday (9 Oct). It lays out five initiatives to upgrade and retain workers for the industry:

• More structured internships, which are already underway;• Earn and Learn programme for polytechnic and Institute of Technical Education (ITE) students to gain qualifications while working in companies, which begins next year;• SkillsFuture Leadership Development Initiative to groom senior management, which begins next year;• SkillsFuture Study Awards of up to $5,000, which begins next year; and• Singapore Skills Framework, which will be rolled out by the first half of next year.

Mr Lim said the manpower strategy is important as new and upcoming hotels will take the number of hotel rooms here up by 20 per cent by 2020, which will push up demand for workers.

Sectoral manpower plans will also be rolled out for the social services, early childhood care and education, healthcare, retail and food services, and biopharmaceutical sectors.